Through history, as natural selection played its part in the development of modern man, many of the useful functions and parts of the human body become unnecessary. What is most fascinating is that many of these parts of the body still remain in some form so we can see the progress of evolution. This list covers the ten most significant evolutionary changes that have taken place - leaving signs behind them.

I was dissapointed. I was expecting to see a list of anatomical changes that appear to be new within the last 2 or 3 thousand years. The dissapearance of wisdom teeth in some people would be a perfect example.

The dissapearance of wisdom teeth in some people would be a perfect example.

Early humans ate a lot of plants - and they needed to eat them quickly enough that they could eat a sufficient amount in one day to get all of the nutrients they needed. For this reason, we had an extra set of molars to make the larger mouth more productive. This was particularly essential as the body lacked the ability to sufficiently digest cellulose. As evolution made its selections, our diets changed, our jaws grew appropriately smaller, and our third molars became unnecessary. Some human populations have now all but completely stopped growing wisdom teeth, while others have almost 100% likelihood of developing them.

“Even if this were true, it provides no support for evolution because evolution requires new structures to arise naturalistically. Rather, loss of teeth is just another example of degeneration, which fits perfectly within the biblical worldview of Creation and Fall.”

The plantaris muscle no longer exists in 9% of humans. Darwin’s point is missing in 90%. Both exist at 100% in all our nearest relations, so they’ve been more or less slowly breeding out of the human population as we no longer need/use them. The extrinsic ear muscles, that are only able to slightly wiggle the ears, and that only in a subset of humans, would be another fine example.

A couple of these could be in error. Recent hypotheses are that the appendix performs the useful service of being a reservoir of the intestinal flora essential to digestion. Since food poisoning and other bowel problems are common in the wild, this could have been vital in maximizing food nutrition.

And recent discoveries are also casting into doubt the label of “junk DNA”, which may not be so useless after all, but perform critical protein control functions.

One I read of is the attachment of the gut to the back surface of the abdominal cavity, in common with quadrupeds, for whom it makes sense. For us, according to the source, it is a liability, and leads to complications in senescence.

> And recent discoveries are also casting into doubt the
> label of junk DNA, which may not be so useless after
> all, but perform critical protein control functions.

I wouldn’t be surprised if large sections of the genome currently considered “junk” didn’t have some usefulness. There are some bits, though, like the broken piece that used to allow our ancestors to synthesize vitamin C, that probably deserve the label “junk”.

“Anatomical Variations of the Plantaris Muscle and a Potential Role in Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome A. JAY FREEMAN, NATHAN A. JACOBSON, AND QUENTIN A. FOGG* Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, American University of the Caribbean, Sint Maarten, Netherlands Antilles

....The presence of interdigitations strengthen the argument that the plantaris muscle supplement the activity of the lateral head of the gastrocnemius muscle whereas the patellar extension suggests an involvement with patellofemoral dynamics and may play a role in the various presentations of patellofemoral pain syndrome.”

The gastrocnemius in the above is one of the big muscles in the calf and plantaris is thought to help this muscle rather act as a strong muscle its self. But for all the talk of it's being useless, a more honest statement would be that we don't know it's function in humans.

Ignorance of function certainly is not proof of no function, as with “junk” DNA, appendix, etc.

23
posted on 01/13/2009 9:48:04 PM PST
by count-your-change
(You don't have be brilliant, not being stupid is enough.)

#9 The nasal organ: I can identify which children are mine in a dark room by their scent. (Not “smell”, but scent,two different things.) My ex-wife was fine until she had mental problems, shock treatments and drug treatments. Afterward her scent changed, like onions. Lost my sex urge for her. Years later I met a woman I was drawn to, I didn’t understand it until I got close enough to pick up the scent (not perfume or anything else) of her skin.At first she thought I was nuts to want to smell her skin,which turned me on. Best Experience of my life. Eventually discovered she grooved on my scent. No aftershave or cologne, just my scent. Not as nuts as it sounds; even science has suggested scent is how we pick our mates, regardless of what we think it was.

#10 - false: In cold situations, the rising hair traps air between the hairs and skin, creating insulation and warmth. ... Humans no longer benefit from goose bumps and they are simply left over from our past when we were not clothed and needed to scare our own natural enemies.

My forearms have fairly light hair on them but they do retain warmth when raised. I have tested that.

#9 - false: Humans are born with the Jacobsons organ, but in early development its abilities dwindle to a point that it is useless.

For crying out loud. Decades of studies have been done showing the affects of human pheromones on the opposite sex and the same sex. (Male pheromones stimulate aggressiveness in other males.)

#2 - Case wasn't even made: but we did not lose the needdo have a use for the coccyx: it now functions as a support structure for various muscles and a support for a person when he sits down and leans back. The coccyx also supports the position of the anus.

27
posted on 01/13/2009 10:27:02 PM PST
by TigersEye
(This is the age of the death of reason.)

In a warm pool of sand eons past lightening hit and melted the sand into glass. The glass lay for millions of years being ground by the wind into bifocals while successive strikes melted metal ores and various minerals and the melted metal formed around the glass into frame like structures.

Then millions of years later space aliens opened up offices selling these naturally forming objects and the rest is history.

28
posted on 01/13/2009 10:37:21 PM PST
by count-your-change
(You don't have be brilliant, not being stupid is enough.)

Since you brought up the bible...I’m going to throw out a very vague memory of mine and see if anyone with bible knowledge can back it up for me.

When I was a kid, I sorta remember my dad(or possibly a grandfather) telling me that someone in the bible was touched on the leg by god or perhaps it was an angel...and after that, one of his leg muscles withered up and became useless. Every one of his offsprings was born with the same withered useless leg muscle.

I am wondering if this leg muscle described in the article is the one I remember in the story?

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